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I've spent this month digging through the archives of the Rozen Maiden series; that is, I watched the first two series along with the OVAs. Some thoughts.

- Rozen Maiden and Rozen Maiden Traumend are considered to be much more lighthearted than Zurückspulen (which of course they are), but I think they're still quite poignant in their own ways. The most meaningful thing about the originals to me was the transformation Jun underwent, a transformation displayed most clearly in the last episode of the original and which continued throughout the remainder of the story. It's always quite inspiring to see someone leave a dark place behind and become a better, more purified version of themselves, and it's also equally interesting to see how a person behaves whenever they're still inside that dark place. A type of story that I've always loved both in fiction and in real life is where someone is deeply unhappy, their suffering overtaking them at times and making them a bit of jerk, but they force themselves to soldier on through that rough time because they have people they love and care about, their true and more pleasant self becoming unearthed from time to time amidst their sadness and anger. I think it's romantic and kind of manly (for lack of a better term ), even when the 'man' in question is a 10 year old. I suppose it also speaks to the importance of first impressions that, despite the fact that Jun was only an ass during the first Rozen Maiden series and has been great ever since, much of the (non-AnimeSuki) fanbase is still stuck in 2004 and regards Jun as being hostile and screamy.

- Suigintou is stunningly beautiful in Zurückspulen; in the first two series... not... so much. She's cool-looking, she certainly fits the bill for creepy, and she's also quite ugly. She's dolled up quite a bit for Ouvertüre (pun not intended... I think), though not to the point of putting me at danger for developing a doll fetish like Zurückspulen's Suigintou.

- Suiseiseki using a phone book was a nice moment in that Traumend really shows its age during that scene; phone books are probably used significantly less now in 2013 than they were in 2005, due to eight years' worth of continued proliferation of the internet. I think it's nice the speed at which technology picks up steam (such as the fact that solar powered systems are now installed on homes once every four minutes in the United States, as opposed to once every 80 minutes in 2006). Or there's that picture that went viral a while back comparing the coronation of the pope in 2005 vs. 2013 that also serves as a bit of a testament as to how different things were during the time of Rozen Maiden Traumend.

Spoiler for pic:

- It's hard not to think of Souseiseki as a traitor. I'll force myself to forget about it because I otherwise like Souseiseki quite a lot, but prioritizing the Alice Game over her relationships with her sisters didn't sit well with me. It's not as though Rozen is exactly Father of the Year material, anyway. "Hey, you're all defects and I don't actually love any of you. Could you all kill each other so that you might take on a form worthy of my affection? Thanks, see you guys later then when you're hopefully less worthless."

To be fair, I do recall very much liking the final two episodes of the first season of the original Rozen Maiden, which were indeed great episodes for young Jun. I still remember those two episodes pretty well given how it's been at least four years since I watched them.

And the original Rozen Maiden does have at least two significant edges over Zurückspulen:

1. Better action scenes.

2. Detective Kun-Kun.

I honestly found it very adorable and funny how Shinku became such a huge fan of that cartoon character (in her world), to the point of Shinku dressing up as him and playing detective.

I remember one bit in Traumend where Shinku, anxious over some scene in Detective Kun-Kun where he's in trouble, shouts something at the television along the lines of "Look behind you, Kun-Kun!" Kun-Kun's next line of dialogue (by pure coincidence) turns out to be something like "Behind me?!" Shinku's face softens and she says, in total breathless euphoria, "He heard me..." I thought that was adorable.